Mission Prep wins CIF basketball playoff opener, 3 other SLO County teams move on
Coming together at the right time after a challenging regular season, Mission Prep’s boys basketball team dominated in the opening round of CIF-Central Section boys basketball, beating Hanford 74-48.
Hampered by injuries to key players during the regular season, the Royals (10-17) are healthy and have come on strong of late, winning seven of their last 10 matchups, including Tuesday’s home postseason opener as the No. 2 seed in Division 2 action.
The Royals were led by Roman Benedetti who poured in 28 points, including four 3-pointers, and Jayden Nozil who tallied 16 points. Luke Jacobson added 12.
“I felt like we did our job tonight,” said Mission Prep Coach Terrance Harris. “We knew that they were a solid opponent, but that if we played a consistent, disciplined game that we had a good chance.”
Harris added: “We had a little spurt where we didn’t move it so well. But once we got back to ball movement, body movement, I thought we did a good job offensively.”
Keys to success
The Royals used a trap defense to force turnovers in the first half for some easy fast break buckets. After building a 35-26 lead at the half, Mission Prep put its foot on the gas pedal with pressure defense, movement on offense and knock-down shooting.
“I think that, honestly, we played an amazing game today,” Nozil said. “I was super excited coming out and I knew my team was excited. We put that on the floor.”
Nozil said the team has adjusted this season after the loss of J.J. Howard, The Tribune’s 2022-23 and 2023-24 county Player of the Year, who averaged 24.5 points per game on 53% shooting in his senior season in 2023-24. Howard now plays at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.
“It was definitely way different basketball with J.J.,” Nozil said. “He did a lot. J.J. leaving gave a lot of us like me, Roman, Luke and couple others a lot of extra opportunities to score now.”
Benedetti, a standout on last year’s team that finished 23-10, missed most of the season with an ankle injury that he suffered against Dunn on Dec. 8. Benedetti said that he’s healthy now and felt good about the team effort Tuesday.
“Everyone shared the ball and I shot pretty well,” Benedetti said. “I think I missed about three-fourths of the games, but I’m good now.”
Jacobson said: “As a team right now, we’re probably the best we’ve ever been both on the court and off the court. And we’re going to keep bringing that game after game.”
Jacobson added: “People expect us to win at the No. 2 seed, but honestly, we have nothing to lose. We’ve had a rough season, and everyone sees that, but we just want to prove people wrong and show everyone what we’re about. Record doesn’t matter, man. We just have to get it done.”
The Royals host Independence (18-8) of Bakersfield at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Each of the other SLO County boys teams was on the road in their respective CIF-Central Section playoff divisions.
Below are results from other SLO County games.
Clovis East 56, Arroyo Grande 43
Arroyo Grande (22-8) fell to Clovis East (19-10). The Eagles hit the road as the No. 12 seed in CIF-CS Division 1 action.
They were led by Gavin Marin, who had 11 points, and Aiden Blan, who added 10.
The Eagles had a rough first quarter, going down 17-2 before pulling the game within range. Arroyo Grande lost by three to Clovis East earlier in the season.
The Eagles finished second in Mountain League with a 6-2 record, losing only to powerhouse St. Joseph in league play.
Atascadero 90, Hanford West 86
Atascadero (14-13) upset Hanford West (11-18) on the road.
The Greyhounds came in as the No. 13-seed in Division 3 and finished 5-3 (second) in the Ocean League.
Atascadero moves on to play No. 2 Sierra Pacific on Thursday on the road.
North 70, Paso Robles 40
Paso Robles (8-19) finished its season on the road with a 70-40 loss to North (23-6) of Bakersfield.
The Bearcats, the No. 16 seed in Division 3, finished fifth in the Sunset League with a 4-6 record.
Nipomo 51, Fowler 47
The Titans (10-19) upset Fowler (20-9) as the No. 14 in Division 4, winning on the road behind the scoring of 6-foot-2 senior Nate Dignam-Valenzuela, who led the Titans with 17. Josh Atkinson added 13 points for Nipomo.
The Titans, who finished fourth in the Ocean League with a 2-6 record, move on to play Corcoran (25-2) on the road Thursday.
Garces Memorial 58, San Luis Obispo 48
The Tigers played a close game down to the wire, with some late free throws widening the final margin.
“The final score didn’t reflect how close this game was,” said SLO High Coach Chris Grieves. “We had a shot to tie it down the stretch that rattled in an out.”
The Tigers (13-16) were led by Austin White, who had 10 points, as Garces Memorial (15-14) played solid lock-down defense, Grieves said.
“It was a solid season,” Grieves said. “We competed hard against a lot of good teams up and down the state.”
Grieves said that season highlights included a win at home over rival Mission Prep, a 3-1 tournament record against solid teams in San Diego and having “Arroyo Grande on the ropes” in a 50-43 loss on Jan. 26. Arroyo Grande was second place with a 6-2 record in the Mountain League.
The Tigers were seeded No. 9 in Division 2 and finished 3-5 for fourth place in Mountain League.
Templeton 68, Tulare West 56
Templeton (22-7) topped Tulare West (13-15) on the road to set the school record for wins in a season. The previous mark was 21.
Trevon Carter-Givens led the way with 24 points and 21 rebounds for the Eagles. Luke Asplund added 21 points and 6 rebounds. Ryan McNamee tallied 19 points and 12 rebounds.
“Setting the school record in wins is a great accomplishment,” said Eagles Coach Lawren Ramos. “It’s been a journey and these boys have worked extremely hard to get to this point. This season has been a lot of fun but we aren’t satisfied yet and are preparing for the second round of playoffs and to add to the win total.”
Templeton is the No. 9 seed in Division 3. The Eagles won the Ocean League with a 7-1 record.
The Eagles play No. 1 North of Bakersfield (23-6) at 6 p.m. Thursday on the road.
Chowchilla 57, Morro Bay 51
Morro Bay (14-14) fell on the road to Chowchilla (17-11).
The Pirates were No. 10 in Division 5 after finishing second in Sunset League at 6-4.
This story was originally published February 13, 2024 at 11:03 PM.
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